ryan said he's ready for mr. biden to come at him like quote, a cannonball, in an effort to even the score. >> governor romney had a good night, i had a bad night. >> reporter: the president, whose debate performance was widely panned, vowed to be more active. criticizing the former governor's punches in an interview from abc news. >> governor romney went through a lot of trouble to try to hide what his positions because he knows those ideas have been rejected. they won't work. and if he's making an honest presentation about what he's proposed, he will lose. >> reporter: considered the big winner in that first debate, mr. romney has faced a larger, more enthusiastic crowd ever since. campaigning wednesday in the critical battleground state of ohio, trailing in the polls, but narrowing the gap. >> and the key thing i want people across ohio to understand and to ask themselves as you go into the voting booth, as you vote, is can we really afford the cost of barack obama? and the answer is no. >> reporter: now tonig